Kensington Palace is really daring the British media and the international media to call them out over Prince Louis’s sixth birthday portrait. KP released the photos after noon on Tuesday, Prince Louis’s birthday. Usually, KP releases photos for the kids’ birthdays a day or two in advance, and I completely believe that the British papers exerted pressure on KP to release something. The palace couldn’t help but brief that the photo was taken by the Princess of Wales in Windsor in “the last few days.” Which no one really believes, especially since Louis is wearing the same shirt he wore in the Mother’s Day frankenphoto, and magically his missing-tooth gap has basically been unchanged for months? Even if you believe that the photo is unedited and unmanipulated, it’s very likely to be a months-old photo.

The Associated Press was one of several media agencies to “kill” the Mother’s Day photo hours after it was released by KP. The AP published the Louis b-day photo, but they added a disclaimer and made sure to reference who was saying what about the photo. This was AP’s disclaimer:

“Undated handout photo issued on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, by Kensington Palace of Prince Louis, taken by his mother Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales, earlier this week in Windsor, to mark his 6th birthday. Kensington Palace released the photograph of Prince Louis to celebrate his 6th birthday, the first image by the Princess of Wales it has distributed since news organizations, including The Associated Press, withdrew a photo edited by Kate over concerns about digital manipulation. (The Prince and Princess of Wales, Kensington Palace via AP)”

LOL. In their coverage, AP noted that this is the first palace-issued photo since the Mother’s Day frankenphoto fiasco and they note that the palace is the one telling outlets that the Louis photo “was taken by the princess in the last few days, the palace said in a statement. British media reported that the image, which showed the beaming prince in a plaid shirt, had not been edited.”

Rebecca English at the Mail also claims that the photo has not been edited, information which she’s gotten from Kensington Palace… a source which has huge credibility issues. I mean, just last month, AFP compared KP to North Korea, but Becky English is all about that propaganda. She noted in her coverage: “The picture is understood to have been unedited, deliberately, following the furore that resulted over the princess’s Photoshopped Mother’s Day picture, which saw it withdrawn by international picture agencies.” English is truly giving Kensington Palace a cookie for swearing up and down that they released an unedited photo of a child.

The Mail also conducted an interview with a London photographer, Glenn Gratton, who studied the Louis photo and declares it “not retouched.” He told the Mail: “If she has done any photoshop, it’s very subtle. She’s clearly more advanced with her photography. Her pictures have improved year by year on….He’s only six. She’s not tried to make him look like a wax work. Some parents over-filter their children’s pictures.”

Richard Palmer was especially active yesterday over Louis’s photo. Such jobless behavior. “Almost every major news organisation has reported that this photo is unedited…” They’re reporting that Kensington Palace SAID it was unedited.

Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace.